Sunday, June 25, 2017

Illinois On The Verge Of Bankruptcy

Illinois is bankrupt. It just hasn’t declared it…yet. Things
are so bad in the Prairie State that both S & P and Moody’s downgraded its
credit rating to one step above junk
status. That is the lowest rating for any state ever. Illinois has seen its credit rating lowered an amazing 12
times since 2009. Moreover, the debt-rating agencies warn that the Land of
Lincoln could lose its investment grade entirely if it doesn’t take decisive
action to rein in its chronic deficits and runaway spending.

Illinois
is one of only eight states with a diminishing population. Last year alone,
37,508 citizens fled the progressive paradise in search of greener pastures, by
far the most of any state. (West Virginia experienced the second largest net
population loss, due to coal plant closures caused by President Obama’s
“climate change” policies). A 2016 Paul Simon Public Policy Institute poll
found that nearly half of Illinois
citizens would like to leave the state! The number one reason given for
this desire? High taxes.

The
state faces a troubled economy, staggering debt, and, incredibly, a government
that has no apparent idea how to extricate itself from its self-inflicted
fiscal problems. It owes contractors and suppliers many billions of dollars,
and has $140 billion in unfunded liabilities for ridiculously lavish government
employee pensions. In fact, Moody’s Investor Service reports that the state’s taxpayers
are on the hook for a staggering $251 billion
dollars in unfunded public union pension liabilities. On top of all this, Illinois
has operated without a budget for three
years.

And
things are about to get worse.

The
state’s Democratic-led legislature recently approved a $15-an-hour minimum
wage, which will certainly lead to layoffs, business closures, higher
unemployment rates (especially for young people), lost tax revenues, and other
unpleasant realities. To paraphrase Margaret Thatcher, after many years,
Illinois has finally run out of other people’s money. It is time to pay the
piper or face doomsday.

But,
the state blithely continues to spend tons of money it doesn’t have, even as
its plummeting credit rating has increased the cost of borrowing more cash, which
it persists in doing in a pathetically self-defeating attempt to maintain the
status quo. Speaker of the House Mike
Madigan, Democratic control freak, wants taxes to be increased, but is against other measures and any real structural
reform that might actually prove beneficial.

Well,
there he goes again. He wants to exacerbate the very problem that is driving
people to literally leave the state. Unless the Illinois legislature “somehow”
finds the courage to reduce taxes and spending, the state will be on track to
someday become another Venezuela or Puerto Rico, albeit with slightly better
baseball teams.

Therefore,
I propose that, in the interest of unity, we in the rest of the country dutifully-
and immediately- start holding bake sales and selling lemonade from sidewalk
stands, and promptly turn over all the incoming revenue earned from those
endeavors to the great state of Illinois.

Furthermore,
I believe we need to hold a lengthy telethon, on PBS, to raise money to retire
Illinois’ debt. Granted, this may appear futile given that the entire
mainstream media is essentially engaged in one eternal telethon to aid and abet
Democrats and progressive causes and to try to convince everyone that spending
and taxing profligately will someday lead to a utopia on Earth, but we have to
do something, right?

And imagine the thrills as the
telethon trotted out the likes of Kathy Griffin, Johnny Depp, Madonna, Rahm
Emanuel, Elizabeth Warren, et. al., in an all-out blitz to raise enough cash to
keep Illinois afloat for another year or two, without forcing it to reduce the
rate of increase in its funding of…almost everything. Then, as emotions swell,
Barack Obama, a single tear easing its way down his cheek, would stride onto
the scene and implore all who were watching- and listening to the simulcast-
especially in Washington, D.C., and Hollywood, California, to give all they can
to make certain the erstwhile Garden of the West can continue to ignore the
Second Amendment, the First Amendment, immigration law, and fundamental
principles of sound economic and fiscal policy.

People would be able to bid on
everything from bongs to blow jobs, keeping the throngs of volunteers manning
the phones (recruited from colleges across the country) busier than Bill Clinton
in a sorority house!

Maybe we could even get Jerry Lewis
to show up for a few hours. After all, no one knows more about telethons than
Jerry Lewis. Jerry once said, “Comedy is a man in trouble. And without it,
there’s no humor.”

Daily Trivia Quiz Answer

Today's Answer: Andrew Jackson. ("Poll" got so worked up before the service he apparently had to be removed from the premises, as he was cussing long and loud).

Q) What words appear on the front of the penny, nickel, dime and quarter, alongside the likeness of presidents?

A) "Liberty" and "In God We Trust"

An Ode To Life

Appreciate all you have, as it- and you- will soon be gone. Leave no heartfelt words unspoken, no sweet gesture incomplete, no act of love undone. Love your spouse with passion and abandon, your kids with patience and understanding but also a firm guidance. Love also the truth, no matter how hard. If pursued by enough people with enough courage, it really will set us free.

And don't forget, we didn't ask to be born. We didn't create ourselves. We are not gods. There is a higher power.

Fireworks of the Mind

Write It Up

Whence Shall Come Another?

True Then, True Now

"If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory is sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves."- Winston Churchill

Time Well Wasted

The power lies within your hands To do with what you may But the hourglass is filled with sands Of endless yesterdays